What is happening to the earth now? Ice Butterfly , which has been reported many times by CCTV, will appear again at the end of 2022. So what exactly is Ice Butterfly? Why was it reported many times by CCTV?
Ice butterfly predicts freezing?
Is the ice butterfly really a natural species that can appear in winter? The ice butterfly is not a butterfly species, but a natural feature. Because its shape resembles a butterfly, scientists call it an ice butterfly.
Nowadays, Chinese people are no strangers to ice butterflies. Recently, residents of Longgou Village, Shanxi Province discovered them again.
In the early years, people were all amazed by its strange appearance. Gradually, netizens praised the ice butterfly as a unique business card of the north. This is a natural landscape that only appears between December and the Spring Festival every year.
Because of its beautiful shape and crystal clear body, it looks like a butterfly fairy descending into the world.
Its dancing posture makes people forget the coldness of winter. So how does this phenomenon come about?
Experts have discovered through extensive observations that ice butterflies appear more frequently in Shanxi every winter. Due to the appropriate temperature, humidity, wind and direction in the northern region, thin layers of ice flakes will appear in the dead grass or bushes in the mountains.
They form a butterfly-like appearance, showing a variety of elegance.
But after entering the keywords of Ice Butterfly on the Internet, you will find that they seem to prefer Shanxi Province. For example, in January 2019, natural ice butterflies appeared for the first time in Houma in Shanxi.
In December 2020, the ice butterfly quietly arrived in Linfen, Shanxi. In January 2022, the ice butterflies that filled the mountains and plains returned to Doulonggou Village in Houma, Shanxi.
Due to its explosive popularity on the Internet in recent years, ice butterflies have become a star attraction. Many netizens have traveled to Shanxi to check in in order to take beautiful photos of them.
Unfortunately, people cannot see such a beautiful sight of ice butterflies in other northern cities. So how many mysterious stories does it still have, waiting for people to find out?
In January 1883, British physicist William accidentally photographed a group of natural landscapes. The dancing appearance in the picture reminds people of butterflies soaring in winter. This is also the first time that ice butterflies have been discovered in recorded history.
But no one could explain the cause of this phenomenon at the time, so many readers joked at the time that perhaps this beautiful landscape heralded that beauty had come to the world.
The formation of ice butterflies
It turns out that ice butterflies are not only a unique natural landscape in Shanxi, China, they have a history of appearing all over the world. So how do ice butterflies form?
Its formation is related to three factors: carrier, weather and environment. Ice butterflies generally like annual herbaceous plants with thin branches.
For example, ice butterflies often appear in winter, such as mint, ainaxiang, and . So what are the characteristics of these herbs?
You will find that in late autumn, these plants have already withered, but there is still a small amount of water in their branches.
The cold wind in winter pushes the humidity of the air into the bodies of these plants. The low temperature will physically react with the water, which can cause the withered branches to slowly begin to freeze.
You must know that after water freezes, its shape changes and its volume increases by about 9%. At this time, the excess ice cubes will be slowly squeezed out from the withered branches. The principle of
is like squeezing cream on a cake, so the ice butterfly does not suddenly appear in the world, it is the beauty squeezed out of the gaps little by little by withered branches.
But you will find that herbs like mint are widely distributed around the world, but not all places can see ice butterflies. So in addition to having a carrier, its appearance also requires weather assistance.
When the temperature continues to drop, after the water physically reacts with the low temperature, the cold wind rushes over to make beautiful wings for the ice butterfly.
In whatever direction the wind will push, the ice butterfly's wings will face the direction of the headwind and start to soar. The fluidity of the wind makes the ice butterfly's wings more detailed, and they are arranged in a texture, forming a beautiful pattern with personality.
It is precisely because of the influence of low temperature and wind speed that the layers of the ice butterfly are not a mess of white hair, so it is very elegant.
Of course, there is one last factor for the emergence of ice butterflies, which is related to the humidity of the ground. If the local temperature and humidity are changing, and at the same time there are warm winters and dry and cold phenomena in the local area, then the ice butterflies will not be willing to come there.
Ice Butterfly and La Niña
The Ice Butterfly does not appear at dusk. It often comes in the early morning and especially likes terrain that easily causes airflow exchange. You see, why do ice butterflies appear in some villages in Shanxi all year round?
This is actually because there is not only a large area of mint land there, but the most important thing is that the environment where mint grows is in a low-lying location. Such terrain conditions are conducive to the entry of cold and humid air in winter.
So from this perspective, even in any other place, as long as the above conditions are met, ice butterflies can fly in groups. Only when cold winter meets humid conditions do ice butterflies seem to have found a home.
Their formation is based on water and requires cold as a necessary condition. However, experts also found that ice butterflies may also be closely related to natural climates, such as La Niña, which seems to be a label that heralds the occurrence of extreme weather.
It turns out that beauty and specialness may also be linked, just like the ice butterfly, in the eyes of most netizens, is just a blessing from nature. However, after analysis, experts also called on people to protect the environment and be wary of extreme climate events like La Niña.
This is not a big deal. Due to the low temperature in Shanxi in recent years, although the wind is not strong, the humidity is higher than in previous years, so the ice butterflies can only appear after favorable conditions are obtained.
In the second half of 2020, the La Niña phenomenon continued to develop, and central and eastern my country gradually entered a cold winter. Not only did low temperature weather come earlier than in previous years, but cold air phenomena also became more frequent.
This has caused the water vapor activity in northern my country to become more intense, and many beautiful and rare spectacles have appeared in various places. For example, there are more ice butterflies than in previous years.
Although they are beautiful, there may also be other warning messages behind the beauty. Therefore, we should protect the environment, jointly defend our homeland, and let beauty and harmony coexist.
